SRINAGAR: Complete shutdown was observed across the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) on Sunday against the killing of an elderly civilian Muhammad Yousuf Butt by Indian troops in Kupwara district.
Call for the strike was given by the joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. All shops and business establishments were closed. The authorities deployed the personnel of police and paramilitary forces in strength to prevent anti-India protests. A month ban on internet and social websites is already in place in Kashmir.
The 60-year-old civilian, Muhammad Yousuf Butt was killed when Indian army personnel opened fire on peaceful demonstrators at Panzgam in Kupwara on Thursday.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Chairman Syed Ali Geelani in a statement in Srinagar said that India is speedily turning into a Hindu Rashtra as a result of fascist policies being pursued by its rulers. He denounced police raids on educational institutions in Pulwama and Shopian and beating up of students and teachers. He said that India had waged a war against unarmed Kashmiris and Kashmir Valley had been virtually handed over to army and police.
Other Hurriyat leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Jahangir Ghani Butt, Chairman of Teachers Forum, Abdul Qayoom Wani and Employees Movement Chief, Mohammad Shafi Lone in their separate statements also condemned the thrashing of students and teachers by Indian forces’ personnel. Abdul Qayoom Wani said that the teachers of occupied Kashmir would come to the streets against India if the cruelties against Kashmiri students were not stopped in the territory.
